2015 Flat Track Canada reigning overall National Champion Doug Lawrence doesn’t mind the interruption on a Saturday night – the first period was not kind to the Leafs on “Hockey Night in Canada.” Lawrence took a break from pre-season preparations, and Pro team sport frustration, to discuss his plans for the upcoming season.

“I’ve been busy, lots of logistics, getting ready for the season opening in Daytona for the Grand Nationals in March,” started the 30 year old Mississauga, ON-based racer.

“Before that, I’m heading to California to ride for a few days. I’m going to Paris Speedway, nothing is really like the Daytona Short Track but Paris is something like that, and of course it is just important to ride. One of my main sponsors, John Briggs out of Santa Barbara got a bike for me to ride, it’s like my current Honda, and I’m flying out with Bryan Smith to get some work in the sun.”

“Then I will ride two test days before Daytona, in South Carolina and near Tampa, I’ll use my regular CRF450 bike in the Nationals and take my older Honda to thrash in practice,” continued Lawrence. “The older bikes doesn’t’ have all the nice little trick bits, but it works just fine. We’re also aiming to do some Dynojet Dyno work at Brooklin Cycle Racing with Rob Egan before we head south.”

“After that, well I have six bikes to get ready for the season, Canada and the U.S., and I don’t want to rush – it’s a lot of work, lots of details. It’s stupid really!

“Regaining the Canadian title is our first priority, then the X Games, then the AMA rounds. I don’t know anything yet about the American Superprestigo (slated for the fall), and the rumor has it we are going to start something similar in Canada – that sounds like a good start.”

When the AMA Pro tour gets to the bigger tracks, especially the Springfield Mile events, Lawrence will revert to his Harley-Davidson XR750 twins, provided by an existing sponsor in Indianapolis.

However, prior to the April AMA National rounds at the Circuit of the Americas, Lawrence aims to start testing a brand new bike – a Kawasaki 650 twin, currently coming together under his father’s care.

“We’ll have the Harleys for CotA, but we should have everything we need to run the new Kawasaki,” confirmed Lawrence. “There are so many little things to work on, sometimes I really would prefer I didn’t know the things I know!”

“The Kawasaki is actually pretty easy to build, even though we haven’t had any help from Kawasaki. Briggs got us the engine, we had the wheels and forks, and we bought the frame and triple clamps. Aaron Humphrey in Pennsylvania built the frame, he was recommended by Joe Kopp and Mike Hacker.

“The frame has the same kind of linkage set-up as the old Honda 750s,” explains Lawrence of his new chassis. “Steve Beattie will do the forks and the shock, and then we’ll start testing. Once we have some feedback, our aim is to get to the point where the Kawasaki as good, or better than our Harleys.

Lawrence hasn’t done any riding on the ice this winter, explaining that “the ice isn’t always such a good idea, it can teach you some bad habits – there is really too much traction, so it isn’t that helpful for flat track.” Meanwhile Lawrence might make one ice appearance in Canada this winter, indoors in Kitchener next weekend, if time permits.

Another activity that is on Lawrence’s mind is roadracing, following his brilliant debut at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park last summer, winning the inaugural Kawasaki Ninja 300 Cup series.

“I want to put something together, maybe ride a Mopar CSBK round or two, probably on a 600,” explains Lawrence. “It depends on a few things, but that is for sure another goal. I want to be in good shape if I do that, do some pavement practice, and I might try to get some riding in when I am down in Texas at CotA. I talked to Jason DiSalvo about his School, so that is certainly an option.”

The long road to recovery: endless doctor appointments, scans, tests, and readjusting life to allow for as much recovery as quickly as possible. With a head injury, the recovery time varies and it is near impossible to predict how long you will be unfit to ride. I spent days and days inside a hyperbaric chamber to increase the oxygen flow in my body and speed up recovery.

By now, most people know I had a serious accident at the Suzuka 8-Hour World Endurance Event in Japan back in July. I high-sided my Superbike coming onto the front straightaway, which was targeted to be my fastest lap ever around the Suzuka Circuit. I was pushing hard and still had a heavy fuel load, with tires that were still not fully up to temp. Although I don’t remember any part of the accident, a photo sequence (see later in the story) along with onboard data allowed my team to piece it all together.

@KawasakiMotors • (October 10, 2015)- The aggressive styling and powerful punch of the Kawasaki Z1000 has gained many fans, and now it gets a sibling in the form of the new-to-North America 2016 Kawasaki Z800 ABS.

@WorldSBK • Sunday, 04 October 2015 - On the face of it, Kenan Sofuoglu is by far the most successful rider to have ever competed in the Supersport World Championship. Not only does the hold records in practically every area but he has now become a four-time World Champion, having already been the only rider to enjoy the honour three times.

Designed with the introductory rider in mind, the 2015 Kawasaki Vulcan S puts comfort, fit and confidence at the forefront of the riding experience. With a wonderful price point of $7,999 in Canada (including standard ABS!) and a new feature called Ergo-Fit, the Vulcan S is poised to stake a serious claim in the middleweight cruiser market.

December 18, 2014- Kawasaki's Dan Kruger and Karl Roe teamed up and took a convincing win at the season Zhuhai 3-Hour Endurance Race at the Zhuhai International Circuit. Not only did they take the overall win but Kruger powered his Kawasaki ZX-10R to a lap record towards the end of the race with a 1:3665, which left everyone wondering what he has in store for the 2015 China Superbike Championship.